Ander Tagira
Ander Tagira was a Human male born on Corellia in 14 BBY, to the parents of Kataar and Casandra Tagira. He had a lean physical build, light skin, brown hair and hazel eyes. Raised, after his parents' divorce at the age of eight, by a single mother who fought as an RZ-1 A-wing pilot with the Rebel Alliance's very own Starfighter Corps, Ander grew up learning to fight the Empire. His mother a former Jedi Knight of the Old Republic, Ander grew up relatively strong in the Force, and went on to become not only the apprentice of Luke Skywalker, training with the second class of Yavin 4 Praxeum students within the New Jedi Order, but the Praxeum's eventual Head Master and leader of the planet's defense forces. His path in life was long and twisted, coming to many stops and making many turns, but for the most part, Ander remained true to his values and strived to better life for those around him, despite his own powerful inner demons. Early Life (14 BBY - 9 ABY) Birth Of A Rebel Born in 14 BBY, Ander grew up in a period of galactic turmoil, like so many others born in that age. The Jedi Order, as far as common knowledge was aware, had fallen only a handful of years before at the hands of the new risen Galactic Empire, destroyed almost in a single day by the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Sidious, and his apprentice, Darth Vader. His mother, Casandra, having been a rather inconspicuous Jedi Knight, fell under the Empire's rather efficient radar when Executive Order 66 was given, able to escape persecution as she set out to start a new life with a Mandalorian man named Kataar Tagira, a mercenary who had taken contracts with the fledgling Rebellion. Kataar was a strong believer in his Mandalorian ways, as he was of the Mando'ade, wearing the traditional beskar'gam of the Mandalorian warriors and adhering strictly to the timeless practices of Mandalorian culture. Though both young, and with Casandra having been raised a Jedi and excluded from every day living experiences, the couple married in 13 BBY and conceived Ander shortly thereafter. At the time, his mother was conducting logistical escort for the Rebellion's supply corps, for little military action was to be seen during that time. Ander's father assisted with cargo and transport security, enjoying the easy money and the time he had to spend with his wife and newborn son. Their peace was welcome, even in the face of an ever changing galaxy and the ever-present threat of the Empire discovering Casandra's identity, and for several years, the small family lived happily. Easy Living Ander learned as a toddler to hide and control his Force abilities, helping him maintain strict secrecy of his powers and, as a side affect, gave him a great amount of detailed control over the ebb and flow of the Force. This early and specified training would give Ander an edge later in life learning abilities that affect energy control and absorption, reducing one's presence in the Force, and maximizing his physical, mental, and Force endurance and efficiency. To balance his mother's Jedi background, Kataar made an effort to pass on to his son the traditions and combat tactics and skills of the Mandalorian people to which he belonged. Kataar taught his son at a very young age to fire, maintain and troubleshoot a variety of common and rare weaponry, as well as basic physical combat skills to augment his grueling physical training. At times, Ander's mother resented her husband for working their son over so strictly, arguing that he deserved a normal childhood. Kataar's fear was that leaving Ander unprepared would eventually lead to his discovery by the Empire, and his death or conscription into Palpatine's private army of Dark Force users. Both parents had to admit they knew nothing of what a normal childhood was supposed to be like, but their marriage finally cracked under the strain of their different cultures when Kataar decided to take Ander into combat for the first time, at the age of eight. Casandra was livid, leaving Kataar and Corellia with Ander and taking more work with the Rebels in the Expansion Region. Kataar was barred by his wife from any and all information having to do with their whereabouts and assignments, and so left his work with the Rebellion and took up contracts with independent businesses for several years before beginning work for the Imperial Navy in 3 BBY. After his parents' divorce, Ander dove as a youth into the world of the Rebel Alliance. Open conflict between the Alliance and the Empire led to more dangerous living conditions for Ander as a young boy 10 years old, and the Battle of Yavin dragged Casandra into active service with the Starfighter Corps. Now 14, and without the constant guiding hand of a parent, Ander spent as much of his time as possible learning mechanical and electronic trades, secretly developing his Force skills to augment these skills. In this time, and in between visits from his near-constantly deployed mother, Ander developed great intuition and the ability to sift through great amounts of information and memories as fast as he took them in, serving him greatly in both combat, and his later day to day life as a Jedi. Disaster Strikes In roughly 3 ABY, Casandra Tagira was dealt a powerful emotional and mental blow, aggravated further by her recent years of consistent deployment and combat against the Imperial Navy. After the Galactic Empire blockaded the Deep Core planet of Vulpter, the Rebellion attempted to slip supplies and food onto the planet in the hopes of saving their population and gaining their support in ousting the Imperial presence in the Vulpter system, a first strike hitting the Empire in the Core Worlds. The mission, however, went poorly for the Rebellion, and their convoy was discovered after arriving in Charbi, one of Vulpter's most densely populated cities. Shock troopers deployed from one of the Empire's orbiting Star Destroyers attacked the Rebels still offloading food and supplies inside the city, preventing them from escaping and destroying the supplies. During the battle, Casandra fought alongside the Rebel soldiers escorting their convoy, giving the rest of the civilians in the area time to escape deeper into the city, using grenades to slow the Imperial's advance. They managed to repel the first shock trooper attack, killing most of them and leaving the last two survivors to escape and return to their shuttle to call for reinforcements. As they were quickly reorganizing and gathering up equipment and supplies from fallen comrades, Casandra discovered an the armored body of a man who lay dead amongst the Imperial troopers. The armor, and the body, belonged to that of her ex-husband, Kataar, who had taken contract with the Imperials and assigned to Vulpter for civilian control duty. Pulling Kataar's helmet from his head, Casandra gazed down at the face of her son's father, anguish crushing her heart. She dragged Kataar's body back to their shuttle as the remaining Rebels prepared to leave the planet before more Imperials arrived. As the shuttle lifted off and they prepared for their escape into hyperspace, Casandra noticed the grenade-scoring that marked her husband's under suit, and the flash marks on his armor plates; explosive residue from her own grenades. Guilt drove her mad and grief destroyed her, and having to face and explain to a 17 year-old Ander how his father had died brought Casandra to the brink of insanity. Becoming depressed and and mentally and emotionally unstable, Casandra's performance as a pilot began slipping over the next couple of years. After the Rebellion planned their attack on the Second Death Star, Casandra was brought up by her superiors for mental evaluation and possible reassignment of duty. However, her fellow pilots mistakenly vouched for her skill and solidarity, and Casandra was assigned to an A-wing flight destined for the mock Rebel build up intended to draw the Imperial Navy to Sullust. Before the Battle of Endor, Casandra's emotional instabilities crashed down upon her, and in her confusion she triggered her fighter's hyperdrive, jumping halfway across the galaxy and out of Ander's life for over twenty years. The Path A Jedi Takes (9 ABY - 25 ABY) Studies At The Praxeum Ander spent the next several years working and fighting with the Rebellion after the destruction of the Second Death Star and the death of the Emperor. He spent time as an X-wing pilot during the many space battles that would take place between the growing Alliance Military and the deeply rooted Imperial Navy and Army over the next two decades before a peace accord was made. Ander furthered his independent studies in the Force, as well as his mechanical trade, though he saw a handful of combat time with the Alliance Army during the Thrawn Campaign. After Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade (with help from their long time Rebel friends Han Solo, Chewbacca, Leia Organa Solo, and Lando Calrissian) destroyed the Mount Tantiss storehouses on Myrkr, Luke asked to meet with Ander in regards to furthering his Jedi training. Ander and Luke had met several times during the New Republic's campaign against the still strong Imperial Remnant, and he was looking to recruit potential future Jedi. It wouldn't be until 14 ABY, when the inaugural class of students would be graduated to Jedi Knights and further classes of students were taken into the Praxeum, that Ander would actually arrive on Yavin 4. He spent the time in between piloting for the New Republic, assisting with logistical support divisions in the aftermath of the Thrawn Campaign, and meeting with Luke for several weeks out of each year to further his studies in the Force. It was during his time at the Jedi Praxeum that the bulk of Ander's learning took place, and he began to formulate a picture of the Jedi he wanted to someday become. Ander spent every waking moment focusing on one aspect of his training or another, forgoing mission tasking even, to make the time. The result was a well rounded and developed awareness of the intricacies of the Force, and Ander developed the ability to contrive a deep, detailed connection to it with ease. This training was comprised of extreme and specified physical exercise that ranged from running through Yavin 4's dense forests free climbing its many mountains to grueling hand to hand combat skills that would go on to save his life in more than one occasion. All of this work and effort was coupled with a strict adherence to Ander's separation of his Force abilities and his physical and mental strengths. Ander endeavored to never let the two mingled for two long, or else risk losing his hard earned edge in each area. Ander fully believed that a Jedi needed to understand the potential of the body, without augmenting one's strength and dexterity with the Force. Even after Ander's graduation to Jedi Knighthood, he would continue to study directly beneath Master Luke Skywalker for several years, working closely with the New Republic government all the way to the Yuuzhan Vong invasion in 25 ABY. The Yuuzhan Vong Invasion (25 ABY - 29 ABY) First Contact With the strength of the New Order resting at around 100 Jedi, it seemed that the reborn Order of Jedi Knights had finally found a suitable resting place in the galaxy once more. Ander continued his training on Yavin 4, helping teach newer students when his duties as a Jedi Knight of the New Republic left him with the time. Teaching brought him much joy and passion, sharing his knowledge with new students fast became his career of choice. However, this blissful period in the young Jedi Order's life would be cut drastically short as the biotechnological race of aliens known as the Yuuzhan Vong would launch their long awaited invasion of the galaxy in 25 ABY. At every turn the Jedi found themselves under assault, even as worlds throughout the galaxy burned before their very eyes. Ander abandoned his teaching duties and left Yavin 4 to reunite with his master, Luke Skywalker, and assist in the war against the Vong on it's quickly growing number of fronts. Soon the New Republic was besieged on all sides and defeat seemed, at times, to be more than just a possibility. Maintaining as much hope and optimism as they could, the Jedi pressed on in the war and led many dangerous and ill fated missions against their alien enemies. Ander spent most of the war leading militia resistances on the many worlds that were over run by the Yuuzhan Vong. Much of the tactical training Ander had received from his father as a child focused on Mandalorian guerrilla warfare, and these tactics proved to be quite effective when executed properly on New Republic planets occupied by the seemingly infinite Vong military. Pulling Splinters With their numbers dwindling as the war continued, and the Yuuzhan Vong drove into the Core and conquered Coruscant, the New Jedi Order faced difficulties organizing themselves against the invaders. To double these issues, the New Republic government itself had splintered greatly, as elections for a new Chief of State dragged on slowly. Eventually, the New Republic was reorganized into the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, and Luke Skywalker had established the Master's Council, quelling some of the Order's earlier disagreements. Ander continued fighting with the Alliance against the Yuuzhan Vong, preferring to face their forces in direct combat, rather than focus on what he saw were less effective Jedi methods of dealing with the invaders. It was during the war that Ander's philosophy on the Force began to shy away from that of Luke Skywalker's Jedi Order, though he would remain a leading member for many years to come. End State Finally, in 29 ABY, the Yuuzhan Vong were defeated at Coruscant upon Jacen Solo's destruction of the true Supreme Overlord of the Vong, Onimi, and the arrival over Coruscant, of the Yuuzhan Vong seedworld, Zonama Sekot. As their terms of surrender were decided upon and the Yuuzhan Vong forced to disband their military, the Jedi sought to rebuild what had already been a rough start for their fledgling order. Ander Tagira's Jedi Academy (33 ABY - 40 ABY) The Praxeum Rebuilt Several years passed after the Yuuzhan Vong were defeated on Coruscant, Luke Skywalker reestablished the Jedi Order on Ossus and Ander's work with the New Republic as one of the galaxy's new Jedi had brought him all over the galaxy. It wasn't until 33 ABY that he returned to Yavin 4 with his Luke Skywalker to the site of the ruined Jedi Praxeum Temple. Ander had lived for years in the Praxeum, and there had been some young students, such as Tahiri Veila, who had practically grown up there. As Ander and Luke traversed the ruins of the once proud Temple, Luke began to discuss with his former apprentice what it might take to rebuild it and establish a small school on the planet once more. Surprised by his words, Ander expressed a deep interest in rebuilding the Praxeum, and after a moment of though, Luke Skywalker officially transferred responsibility of the Yavin 4 Jedi Praxeum over to his former student, Ander Tagira. Responsibilities And Friendships After the Galactic Alliance government signed off on funds and assistance to rebuild the ancient Massassi Temple that had once been the home to the first of the New Jedi Order, Ander returned to Yavin 4 from a drastically different galaxy. Former Jedi Knight, Jacen Solo had waged a year long war throughout the galaxy in his journey to becoming a Sith, Force using schools and organizations began popping up all over, and rumors of terrible new threats began to simmer just below the surface of the galactic mindset. But Ander returned happily as other Jedi and Jedi potentials gathered on Yavin 4 to assist with the rebuilding of the Praxeum Temple. Among them, first and foremost, were Dav Man'Sel and Ksandra Mallan, both Jedi Masters from the Old Jedi Order. Dav, a human male, survived the Great Purge after becoming enslaved by Emperor Palpatine and forced to serve as one of his Hands, and quickly became a guiding force amongst the new Praxeum inhabitants. Ksandra, a winged human female, who had been genetically altered before birth, had served during the Clone Wars as a Jedi General. Their uncanny skill and wit saved them from the Great Purge, and after spending decades in hiding, both Dav and Ksandra were finally able to reveal their exist to the new generation of Jedi. Not long after the completion of the rebuilt Praxeum, more former Old Republic Jedi, and Jedi potentials arrived on Yavin 4. Ander was able to gather the knowledge of the old Masters and together they formed the basis for the Praxeum's teaching staff and administrative leadership. Among them were notable Jedi such as Master Zuli Madoon, a massive, shapeshifting Shi'ido of the Old Jedi Order and Tonaris Phedi, who had transferred his own memories, personality, and spirit into the unwitting replica droid body that Ander and his new colleges had come to know well as a friend. Others soon arrived, including medically inclined Jedi Padawan Mai Owani, who would later be promoted to full Jedi Knight and Master; Shace Aussis, whom would later marry with Mai; Andru Kierra-Solo, a relative of the famous Solos that would become Ander's first, true apprentice; Nathan and Alora Malreaux, both fine Jedi Knights and later Masters; Jago Pulastra, a man around Ander's age that would become a valued addition to the Master's Council; and Ronan Starflare, a good man at heart, who would sadly later fall to the Dark Side of the Force after Ander was removed from the Academy leadership and subsequently left the planet without notice or return. One of the greatest additions to the Academy staff would be Tebana Sor, a human female from Osarian, who's tortured family past and unsure future would become essential in the growth and success of the Praxeum of Yavin 4. Jedi Praxeum: Take Two For a couple of years, the Academy prospered and grew, attaining a great number of resources in a short period of time. Unfortunately, one of these resources, by necessity, became a standing military, a force organized by Ander Tagira and led by the other Masters on the Praxeum Council. Conflict throughout the galaxy grew more and more common place, and in a period of a few short years after the Second Galactic Civil War, Ander found the world to be a field of splintered governments and bickering factions. Most disturbing of this all was the rise of the Sith Order in the galaxy, however, they're fractured believes and constant infighting prevented any real over taking of the galaxy to be arranged. In time, the galaxy settled somewhat as these factions learned to maintain tentative relations, however, for Ander and the Jedi of Yavin 4, such peace was becoming harder to come by. First Love For Two Ander, teaching and administering at the Academy closely with the other Masters, began growing close to Master Mallan during the first year and a half of the Praxeum's opening, and within time, a love blossomed between the two of them. It was a relationship as solid and compassionate as Ander could imagine, and he looked to the future with great happiness and joy as he one day asked Ksandra to marry him. Having been raised amongst the Jedi of the Old Republic, Ksandra was new to the concept of taking a lover, and of marriage itself, though Ander's own relative youth and work with the Jedi during the last ten years left him in the same speeder as the woman he wanted to marry. Together, the pair were unstoppable, defending the planet and the Academy from threats spawning all over the galaxy. In particular, a would be assassin named Tyler Jorgennson would attempt to destroy the Academy through the clever use of a teleported nuclear weapon. Transported to the roof of the Academy Temple where Ander stood, the bomb was set to detonate upon arrival and was rigged with an ysalamir frame to prevent Ander from utilizing the Force on the weapon. The nuclear bomb detonated, and all were sure to die, however, Ander's years of intensive and detailed Force training gave him the expertise he needed to save the Academy, and the lives of his students. As the ysalamir were killed in the resulting blast, Ander allowed the Force to flow through him with the speed of the bomb itself, gathering its energy and absorbing it throughout Ander's body. He converted the energy into a Force shield to protect the Academy Temple with, sending the remaining energy back into the air. His expertise with this ability, however, did not save him from the sheer power of the blast, and Ander's body began to deteriorate as it's energy burned him alive. Suddenly augmented by Ksandra's presence in the Force, and the strength of others such as Tebana and Dav, together they managed to dissipate the entirety of the nuclear blast, saving the Academy from such a heinous attack. Feeling their love and support, especially that of Ksandra, Ander later realized how much she meant to him. Tyler Jorgennson fled the system, and Ander was rushed to the medical center at the Academy, his life on a very, very thin thread. Journey Back To The Force Ander was alive, barley, and had lost his left arm after it had been eaten into ash by the energy he had put out of his body during the explosion. A side affect of the blast, and the ysalamir's involvement in it, was that somehow, they're Force presences had become fused with Ander's while he had shifted the bomb's energy. The other Masters theorized later that the ysalamir had died, and their Force energy had been caught up in the swell of Ander's immediate absorption of the blast itself, binding it to Ander's spirit and body. The result was that Ander had been cut off from the Force. The ysalamir's Force nullifying characteristics had been bound to Ander, turning him into a dark spot of Force emptiness. He was unable to reach out and communicate with the Force, essentially cutting him off from his entire world. However, all was not lost, and Ksandra soon developed a way Ander could return to duty and restore his connection with the Force. A technique she dubbed, Force Flame, Ksandra and Ander spent the next many weeks altering the ability so that it could literally burn out of his soul the ysalamir life energy that had bonded with him. They struggled for some time, but eventually, Ander was able to utilize this ability to burn all the bonded ysalamir energy from him, restoring his connection to the Force, and solidifying in his heart, his love for Ksandra. Family Ties During the Academy's first couple of years, Ander met and grew close with a young woman from Osarian, a Jedi named Tebana Sor. She was wise and youthful, and filled with a capacity for compassion that Ander had never felt before in his life. They met aboard a Nebulan-B medical frigate in orbit over Osarian during a Rommamoolian attempt to invade their neighbors on Osarian. Ander, who had participated in the battle between the planets, had become wounded, but had refused treatment in the med center as he saw every day soldiers who needed the professional help more urgently. As he struggled to direct the Force to heal his wounds, as he had spent much time cut off from the Force itself, Tebana approached him with the intent of helping him heal. She introduced herself, and proceeded to help Ander lessen his own pain, and begin reconstructing his damaged body with the Force. She acted as a guiding hand, as Ander's mind flailed and struggled to grasp what he needed from the Force to heal himself with. As a necessity, Tebana entered Ander's mind, his very soul, with her presence, guiding him towards recovery and mingling her spirit with his through the Force so deeply that the two solidified in part, into one. As Ander's body began repairing itself, and his energy was sapped of him, Tebana leaned over him and spoke to him. "We are bonded now, you and I. It will be a bond to stand the test of time, and will remain more powerful in the years to come, than either of us can ever know." And with this, Ander slipped away into unconsciousness, waking days later to find himself on a transport on its return to Yavin 4. The Osarians had been successfully defended, and Tebana had arranged for herself to travel with Ander and watch over him. It was during that trip, and the years following that Ander grew to know her, not as a friend, or even as a colleague, but as a sister, a true family of his own heart. One of the Mandalorian cultural tenets was that family was not determined by blood alone, and that family was whatever a Mando'ad decided it would be. And it seemed the Force itself had decided Tebana would be his family. Everything in Ander's life seemed to be growing backward. He had lost his family as a child, and it was now growing back in his adulthood. Sadly for the Jedi of Yavin 4, it was a happiness that Ander was not prepared to handle. Falling Arrogance And Aggressor In the years following, the community on Yavin 4 grew close together, although relationships between friends and students and staff grew strained under a constant stream of attacks from others living in a wild galaxy. The Jedi were struggling to maintain their place on Yavin 4, and this endeavor grew more and more difficult as Ander took it upon himself to deal too personally with many of these adversaries, including taking up another apprentice, a young Mandalorian male named Calo Foster. Never one with a penchant for patience, Ander had begun making too many decisions on his own, and initiated negative contact with many people who did not look favorably upon the Yavin Praxeum. Several invasion attempts were repelled, and instigated, by Ander himself, and the Academy Council grew wary of his errant behavior. His relationship with Ksandra suffered, and he would face capture on the day before their wedding. Even after his rescue by Dav Man'Sel from Jessop Tors, would fail to show for their wedding ceremony. It would be a day Ander would regret for the rest of his life, a day he would rather have died on. But the damage was done, and his relationship with Ksandra would never recover. As a result, his frustrations turned to anger, and his insistence of dealing with every outside problem on his own was beginning to take a toll on the Academy reputation throughout the galaxy, and between colleges. After several dubious meetings and deals with known enemy Sith leaders, Ander would ultimately decide to leave the planet, for an indefinite amount of time, after the Academy Council demanded that he resign from his position as Head Master. It was described to him by his closest friends that he had become a monster of a man, a servant of his emotions and animal nature that was destroying the principles that the Praxeum had been built on. At the time, Ander felt nothing but resentment and anger towards his colleges, and refused to make any personal changes that could have potentially saved him from what had become his own destructive nature, instead deciding on external sources for his inner turmoils. Not even the death of his own apprentice, Andru Kierra-Solo, could stir Ander from the depths of his growing self loathing, and every decision he made seemed worst than the last. Finally, in a last attempt to wrestle self control through control of the Praxeum, Ander negotiated a deal with former Jedi Aalia Raa of Helska IV that would leave her in sole proprietary control of the Academy after he resigned and fled the planet. Once Tebana and Dav had found out about his deal with Raa, they were furious, and were able to renegotiate the arrangement with Raa after Ander left Yavin 4. The Academy Council remained in sole control, however Aalia remained a close ally of the Council after Ander's departure from the system. End Of The Line, Jedi Road Trip After leaving Yavin 4, Ander and his second apprentice, Calo Foster, travel to Coruscant and Arkania to meet with Jedi contacts and a woman Ander knew named Arhiia Concordia, Queen of Arkania. During these travels, Ander had to think inwardly about what he hoped to accomplish as a man, and as a Jedi, if he were to find any decent direction in his life once again. The affects of growing up without ample parenting were starting to show as Ander was less and less prepared to handle more and more adult situations, such as the running of the Academy, or his marriage with Ksandra. His parents' failures were bound to become his own, Ander feared, and so he fled from any real responsibility before it could disappoint him. After six months of wandering about the galaxy, Ander made up his mind and decided to put a great effort into finding his mother, who had disappeared twenty years before... Kessel Corp. After his break up with Ksandra, Ander had briefly dated a young woman named Marla Edes, a mining prospector and business proprietor who owned a salvage operation on the asteroid-like world of Kessel. Having no real plan on where to go or what to do with himself, Ander decided to visit Marla for any information dealing with his mother's disappearance from the Sullust system. There was no logical reasoning or thought to his decision to go to Kessel, other than Marla being there, of course. During their brief fling, she had been a reasonable voice, and had always had good advice, regardless of the situation. After meeting with her, and explaining his situation, Marla decided that she might be able to track his mother's ship's arrival by it's equipment's serial codes; as long as the vehicle had been picked up by someone, at some point, Marla had a chance of tracking it on one of the many systemic databases that were run by the many ship crafting and salvage corporations in the galaxy. The first month of waiting returned no results, but some time after Ander had already departed Kessel once again, Marla had found a match on his mother's RZ-1 A-wing. A charge support panel, with a serial and product number still intact, had been scanned in on board a Nebulon-B Medical Frigate registered to the Jessop's, missionary doctors that traveled about the galaxy with a staff of volunteer medical personnel, caring for soldiers wounded in the galaxy's many conflicts or providing services and supplies to the poor. It would be from these two physicians that Ander would be inspired to change his life for the betterment of others, a journey that would begin after finally discovering what had happened to his mother all those years ago. Alzoc III Medical Research Center After helping the Jessop's with a mission on board an abandoned space outpost, Doctor Trip Jessop offered to let Ander rummage through their ship's data core for the information he sought. Sure enough, as the vessel's memory banks hadn't been wiped or defragmented in decades, Ander was able to match the charge plate serial and product numbers with the registered data on his mother's starfighter from all those years ago. The navicomputer data was still intact in the ship's memory core, and Ander was able to judge her trajectory to bring her to Alzoc III, a frozen wasteland of a planet far off the galaxy's main space lanes. As it turned out, Alzoc III was home to a series of metal recycling plants that had been built on the planet's surface, as well as an orbiting medical research station that served as the planet's transportation hub; both for garbage and for trade. Ander arrived on board the research station and inquired about his mother's possible whereabouts, hoping to find her starfighter's arrival somewhere on the station's old navigation records. Ander had been growing quite close to his new student, Calo, for the boy learned quick, and already had a better idea of what kind of man he wanted to be than Ander had had at his age. Calo was the Mandalorian that Ander had deserved to be. With Calo at his side, discovering the truth about his mother was much easier to bear. After her random hyperjump out of the Sullust system, her vessel had arrived in the Alzoc system, though, only after the hyperdrive's proximity alarms had warned it of a gravitational mass approaching and forced an immediate shut down of the hyperdrive system. This had destroyed the engine on top of causing a reversion to real space, which dropped Casandra's A-wing nearly within Alzoc III's gravitational field. With her engines destroyed and Casandra herself later suspected to have been unconscious, her A-wing crashed at great force into the side of one of the garbage vessels lifting out of the planet's atmosphere, destroying the fighter and the waste carrier, as well as sending Casandra into a coma. The research center had been unable to identify her to notify either an employer, next of kin, or even an origin for the fighter itself, and instead decided to hold Casandra as a patient. Reunion Ander's mother had pulled out of her coma five years later, though she had suffered slight brain damage during her crash, and retained no memory of her life before waking up in her bed on board the research station. When Ander finally was able to visit her, she had no memory of her son. After her recovery had completed its expected level, the medical personnel had allowed Casandra to take up interactions within the facility, even giving her work as a receptionist at the patient triage desk on the station's main level. Casandra had been working and living there for years, seeming content enough with her existence that she needn't pry beyond the viewports of the station in which she had awoken. Ander made the medica staff aware of his relation to Casandra, though he asked that they keep it confidential, and asked to be allowed to visit her. They offered him several personal items of Casandra's that had been found on her person after the collision, but that she had refused to accept from them. One of the items was a holojournal from his father, the other being a thin metal key and surprisingly for Ander, his father's set of beskar'gam, his Mandalorian armor. Ander made sure each item was stashed safely away on board their ship, made it a daily ritual of visiting his mother and getting to know a second time. During this sensitive time of introduction, Ander withheld from his mother the fact that he was her son, or that he even knew her. He retained the fallacy that he was a Jedi from Yavin 4 who was hoping to do some good for people away from the many conflicted battlefronts that were strewn about the galaxy. He grew to know Casandra, who, while most certainly robbed of most of her memory, remained a sharp minded woman. After asking her one day if she thought she had a family looking for her, Casandra told Ander firmly and confidently that while it was entirely a possibility, she couldn't imagine how complicated reuniting would be for them now, and what troubles it might bring. Unwittingly breaking her son's heart, Casandra remained entirely oblivious to her connection with the man who spent nearly a year visiting her every day. It was after that meeting that Ander decided the Force wasn't going to let him have the family he was born with, and that he would have to start his own. He adopted Calo on the spot, as his full son and heir, and after the year the young man had spent with Ander, and the search they had been through, he couldn't have been happier. Calo's own parents had died some years back. He was already an adult when they passed, but as a strict Mando'ad, Calo had grown up with a need for family that was no longer being filled. Calo happily accepted Ander's adoption proposal, and the two returned to Casandra as father and son. Three's Company After several months of daily visiting, Ander decided to ask Casandra if she would like to see the galaxy beyond the medical station, beyond Alzoc III, and travel with him and Calo. It took a couple days of consideration, but Casandra finally agreed, and Casandra arranged with the medical staff for her release to be given. Ander decided they would be a happy, if not odd, collection; himself, his adopted Mandalorian son and his estranged, amnesiac mother. He grew more and more comfortable with the idea of her not knowing of their relation; Ander was able to discover a new relationship with his mother, rather than rediscover an old relationship who's ending might not change. Ander decided to keep the revelation from her, and focus instead on forging a relationship with his mother and son as one unit. Now that he had tracked down and rediscovered who his mother was, Ander now had to discover himself... New Life, New Man Ander and Calo spent the next six months working for various Jedi related agencies throughout the galaxy, Casandra serving as their sort of live in caretaker. She made sure food was ready for eating, armor was stacked away neatly and cleaned, and took care of general tasks on board the vessel. Casandra was proving to be a most capable addition to the family, and Ander was secretly proud to have her as a mother, and openly proud to have her as a friend. Unfortunately, Ander's work with the Jedi throughout the galaxy was yielding little reward. Conflict between the Jedi and the Sith seemed constant and endless, and solving one problem only guaranteed the creation of another. It was demoralizing work, compounded further on Ander's esteem by the fact that it reduced the nobility of all of his years as a Jedi. Ander decided to abandon the galactic model of thinking and instead adopt more sensible values that Calo had been sharing through all their travels. His philosophy was surprisingly simple, creating a general acceptable level of behavior that allowed one to get what they needed out of the environment around them, but without crippling those in their way. Calo was slowly teaching Ander the ways of their people, a culture Ander had never truly been a part of, and was now hoping he might have a shot at becoming one with. Upon deciding that it was his father's path in life, not his mother's, that he would take, Ander began taking steps towards assuring that future. He decided that a middle path when it came to the Jedi and the Sith, would be a better approach for the average beings of the galaxy caught in the cross fire of their endless conflicts. With that, Ander decided to organize a military task force contrived only of volunteers who were involved for the higher cause, which was to serve and protect, without question or reservation, the every day beings of the galaxy. Those without Force sensitivity were to be Ander's focus from now on, for the wars caused by the Jedi and the Sith were far too costly to be worth what they claimed to both be fighting for all the time. GALSAF Ander's chosen tool for enforcing his policy of peace from Force users by the general galactic population was to be in the form of GALSAF, the Galactic Security Assistance Force. GALSAF's main objective was to respond or seek out Jedi and Sith related conflict throughout the galaxy, and rescue, extract, or defend any innocents involved. Ander was able to scrounge together combat veteran volunteers, and generous donations made by a wealthy friend of Calo's, to pull together a small, but deadly, and well equipped fighting force of commando soldiers. Many of GALSAF's soldiers were Mandalorians, some former New Republic military. Others were ex-CORSEC, and still more where formerly starfighter pilots, combat medics, physicians, teachers, and 1st Fleet even had a holodrama star who'd signed up to help. GALSAF's forces would train intensely for the next year, learning to fight as a single unit, and refine their many different tactics and combat backgrounds, forging them into an unbeatable wall of experience and knowhow before advancing on the galaxy's Force using populations, instilling order. Personal Equipment Weapons Mandalorian Assault Rifle (speeder bike, cargo hold Merry Miner) Verpine Sniper Rifle (stored, Merry Miner) SG-4 Blaster Rifle (hip slung) DX-R6 Heavy Carbine (chest slung) Lightsabers: One Green Single-bladed Lightsaber (armor back plate, under jacket, hidden) Armor Ander can often be found wearing his father's Mandalorian beskar'gam, equipped with envirosuit functions, beskar powder imbued under suit, advanced buy'ce. Ander's armor is red and black. Powers "I have mastered many abilities, but many more still elude my expertise". - Ander Tagira Category:Characters Category:Jedi Master Category:Pilots